It is the spring season in
Seattle, though in many respects April still seems like Winter In America.
Seattle's weather has been five to ten degrees cooler than the average, with
snow falling this past week on the morning of the second day of April. The
economy of the United States continues to contract, with official unemployment
climbing to 8.5% and General Motors teetering less than two months away from
probable bankrupcy. Activities on the street seem to be going on as before, yet
daily conversations tend to veer toward some topic of worry and
concern.
But pay attention - there is
still beauty to note in the world. Here in Cascadia, the Pacific Northwest
region of North America in the Northern Hemisphere, the cherry tries are
beginning their bloom, bulbs are poking out of the ground and breaking out in
colorful flowers, and the days grow longer.
Cascadia Artpost commemorates
this season by reproducing four scenes photographed from past springs. The two
pictures of tulips were photographed in 2005 on the street outside my apartment.
One year ago, I was walking with my camera down the street of our current
residence in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle (often I take a camera with me
to document the environs as I walk) and noticed the childrens' chalk drawing on
the pavement. Walking farther and crossing the street, I couldn't help but
notice the accumulated flower petals in the gutter.
Seeing and perceiving shape our
daily outlook on life. The Cascadian poet William Stafford (1914-1993) once
wrote a poem about this:
Seeing and
Perceiving
You learn to like the
scene that everything
in passing loans to
you - a crooked tree
syncopated upward
branch by pre-
established branch,
its pattern suddening
as you study it; or a
piece of string
forwarding itself,
that straight knot so free
you puzzle slowly at
its form (you see
intricate but fail at
simple); or a wing,
the lost birds
trailing home.
These random pieces
begin to dance at night
or when you look
away. You cling to them
for form, the only
way that it will come
to the fallible:
little bits of light
reflected by the
sympathy of sight.
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